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[FCBIII]

I normally ride my 91 FJ1200 during the day. Last week I took a day trip up in the mountains and had about an hour's ride home in the dark and realized how inadequate the stock headlight is. Has anyone installed an LED bulb in their FJ?

[aviationfred]

Yes, many have tried H.I.D. bulbs, and LED bulbs. As far as an LED bjlb goes, the key to finding one that is adequate is the wording is LED Conversion. This helps with having the correct distance between the LED and the rear reflector.

With that being said, even with a massive increase of Lumins out put, you get a marginal increase of lighting. The best path to go is installing a pair of Auxiliary lights. Many have done it and have reported great results. The Renntech crash bars make a great mounting point for the Auxiliary lights.

Fred

[FJ Flyer]

First question that always gets asked: Did you try the relay mod, yet?  Makes a big difference.

[Ted Schefelbein]

First question that always gets asked: Did you try the relay mod, yet?  Makes a big difference.

+1. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. I tend to ride in daylight as well, but, feel I can pull off an evening ride when need be. The relay on the head lamps is a big help.

Ted

[Bones]

For best results when choosing an LED bulb look for ones that mimic the standard halogen in appearance. If you look at a halogen you’ll see they have shields built in to obviously direct light, most LEDs don’t, they have uncovered chips that will just scatter light everywhere, but some do have shields over the chips in an attempt to direct light. I have one of them fitted and have been behind and passed plenty of oncoming cop cars in low beam with no problems so obviously it doesn’t blind them. LEDs aren’t known for good high beam throw either, and although I haven’t tested mine at night yet it had a good high beam on a tree across the road one dark foggy morning going to work.

[Pat Conlon]

I currently have a LED in my FJ from Xenon Depot.
My impression is that this LED bulb does not put out the same amount of lumens my old 65/100 watt halogen bulb.
It appears that my light output is dimmer with the LED bulb in my FJ.

I recently bought a light meter and I will take some measurements and report back. It will be awhile, all my stuff is packed away while I’m living in a rental house.

Also....We know the headlight relay mod is very beneficial for halogen bulbs, no question....but I am not sure the relay mod benefits LED bulbs the same amount.


 

[Old Rider]

I was thinking of installing a LED headlight bulb because i had bad light ,but after i installed the relays and washed the reflector and inside of glass lens
and installed a Phillips racing vision 60/55w the light is now so bright that I'm not going to install a LED bulb. Just came home from a 150 km trip in the dark driving out of town and in to the dark contry roads. Very impressed by the light best light i had on any bike i think. I also got reminded of how important it is to take it easy in the dark on the trip today as a badger came right in front of the bike and before i had chance to brake or swerve  even i always ride with the brake and clutch levers covered with my fingers .i passed him before i could react.Also roger rabbit came out in the road to say hello later

[Bones]

Also....We know the headlight relay mod is very beneficial for halogen bulbs, no question....but I am not sure the relay mod benefits LED bulbs the same amount.


 

When I first fitted my LED bulb the light was super bright but with engine running I noticed it would flicker at idle, did the relay mod which fixed the flicker at idle but doesn’t seem any brighter than before.

[Pat Conlon]

I also got reminded of how important it is to take it easy in the dark on the trip today as a badger came right in front of the bike and before i had chance to brake or swerve  even i always ride with the brake and clutch levers covered with my fingers .i passed him before i could react.Also roger rabbit came out in the road to say hello later

At least you didn’t kill Bambi, like someone I know....

[ribbert]

Also....We know the headlight relay mod is very beneficial for halogen bulbs, no question....but I am not sure the relay mod benefits LED bulbs the same amount.


 

When I first fitted my LED bulb the light was super bright but with engine running I noticed it would flicker at idle, did the relay mod which fixed the flicker at idle but doesn’t seem any brighter than before.

The likely reason the relay made no difference to the brightness of the LED is the nominated operating range is usually around 8-30 volts so bumping the power up to a full 12v with a relay won’t really make it any brighter.
Not to confuse headlight brightness with useable beam, it’s interesting that many new vehicles are still using Halogen high beams in HID / LED combinations.

I'm guessing you already know why LEDs flicker at idle.

Noel

[Waiex191]

I put an LED bulb in my 6V GN400.  It strobes at idle!  Anything is an improvement for a GN400 though.  The separate lighting coil only has power when the bike is running, I'm pretty sure it is not connected to the battery at all.  And, it does not have much power.

On my FJ I boiled a battery once because the voltage was too high.  So I've got a pair of diodes back to back on the output of the battery, and get a 0.7V drop either way.  Works great to keep the battery from getting overcharged.  The problem is at idle, the headlight runs off the battery and it sees a 0.7V drop.  So at idle I've got poor lighting, but I'm usually not going very fast.  My FJ lights seem great at night for normal riding though.  Maybe it was all those years on the GN400!

[Bones]

I'm guessing you already know why LEDs flicker at idle.

Noel

I have no idea Noel, probably because it was at the low end of its voltage range combined with electrical interference?

[FJmonkey]

I use an HID kit from DDM tuning. Very bright at night, at 5000K it is like having a sliver of the Sun shooting out front. But a bit more involved to install as you need to mount the ballast and HiLo controller under the fairing as well. A bright LED that does not need a fan, and still fits in the tight space, would be a much better solution for most. Karl was messing with an LED lamp. I will ping him to see if he found one that works well.

[Pat Conlon]

One time, at band camp......

Monkey Mark was following me back to the KOA after a WCR dinner in Pet the Tuna....

His HID was so friggin bright...I had to adjust my mirrors downward.....I could see my shadow projected on the road in front of me....yea,  a sliver of the sun is a good description...

[FJmonkey]

This one works in an FJ, Ebay 323860418756